Benefits of Employee Skill Development

We are in the middle of a skills gap crisis. Nearly one-third of employers surveyed in
the Future of Work Report 2022 agree that the skills gap has increased from a year
ago and 87% report they have trouble finding qualified candidates. Teaching
employees new skills affects retention and turnover rates and leads to losses.
Based on Udemy’s 2021 Workplace Learning Trends Report, 38% of the
workforce were being upskilled or reskilled in 2020, driven by organizations taking
the responsibility to fill skill gaps.

A solid developmental plan meets your company’s skill requirements, drives

employee retention and increases workplace engagement. Read on to see the key
benefits skill development adds to an organization:

1. Attracting Top Talent

Driven, successful people want learning opportunities. The LinkedIn Workplace
Learning Report 2021 found that upskilling and reskilling are the top priority for
L&D programs globally. It’s not just good praxis to keep them happy; it’s essential
to a company’s health for creating a positive and developmental workplace
environment.

2. Developing Your Staff

Employees have their own career goals and are always looking for ways to reach
their full potential. If the current workplace doesn’t have sufficient programs,
they’ll look for one that does. Skill development reduces the risk of losing
employees due to lack of opportunities and equips them to take up new roles and
responsibilities with added capabilities.

3. Succession Planning
Investing in workers today means creating managers for tomorrow. Without strong
leadership, teams fall apart. That’s why you need a succession plan. By investing in
personal and professional growth — coupled with the use of talent management
software that automates the process — you can identify candidates who add the
most to a company.

4. Engagement
Career growth keeps people motivated. With a clear plan and well-defined goals,
your staff is much more likely to improve. According to Gallup, engaged workers
yield better outcomes, attract new customers, treat existing customers better and
are more likely to stay.

5. Performance and Productivity

Talent is the greatest asset of any organization, so you need to protect and invest
in them like any other resource. Training opportunities contribute to better
employee retention and overall increases in productivity.

6. Continuous Improvement
Incorporating workshops, industry-specific conferences and learning materials
about new developments can all be effective tools in making sure that your
workforce is ahead of the curve in your industry. You don’t want to play catch-up
with the competition

How to Determine the Most Important Skills

Deploying strategic tools to develop employee skills is vital to identify weaknesses,
drive retention, increase productivity and help employees adapt to changing roles
and responsibilities. Figuring out the right competencies for your team helps
everyone. While buy-in from workers is essential, managers need a roadmap for
career progression.
Here are a few factors to consider:

1. Industry Awareness
Keeping up with trends can be difficult. Technology and best practices are shifting
faster than ever, so even the most eager-to-learn can fall behind. Staying up to date
with ever-changing learning development system requirements and
implementation requirements is vital to enhance organizational performance and
accelerate business operations. Use an efficient LMS to monitor the most relevant
info.

2. Communication
From the day a new person joins the team, you need a clear strategy for promoting
and encouraging communication between colleagues or between different level
positions in the organization. Strong communication reaps big benefits and makes
the workplace more pleasant for current and prospective employees.

3. Technology
Industry-specific software solutions are a reality for most businesses, so you need
a system for training quickly and effectively. While technology is becoming more
intuitive each year, they’re also changing faster than ever. Both organizations and
individuals must be ready to adapt quickly.
Here are just a few in-demand technology skills, to learn:
 UI/UX Design
 Quantum Computing
 Salesforce
 Blockchain
 Robotics
 Data Engineering

4. Soft Skills
AI and automation are becoming more prevalent. That’s why soft skills are on the
rise. They’re especially needed in leadership to attract and retain top talent and
mitigate future problems. Here are some of the most important according
to LinkedIn Learning:
 Creativity
 Persuasion
 Collaboration
 Adaptability
 Emotional Intelligence

Methods of Employee Skill Development

Create a roadmap of domains you need to address and navigate areas of
improvement. It’s important to focus on the developmental strategies needed to
maximize production and reach full organizational potential. It’s essential to outline
short-term and long-term requirements, organize training resources, collect
feedback on initiative performance and welcome employee recommendations to
improve existing practices.

Listed below are a few techniques to consider:

1. Team Building Meetings

Don’t limit official meetings to work-related announcements, employee reviews
and task updates. Include friendly exchanges, group activities, interactive
conversations and other developmental elements to brush soft skills, improve team
coordination and better interpersonal relationships. It helps build an open-minded
work culture for your workers, making them feel comfortable excelling within.

2. Training
Offer user manuals, guides, how-to tutorial videos and eLearning courses, along
with other educational tools and resources, to improve work-related knowledge.
Employees can develop new skills and improve existing ones to evolve ever-
changing job requirements. 46% of employees surveyed in the State of Skills 2021
report believe their current skill set will become irrelevant by 2024. Since individual
training is time-consuming and heavy on the pocket, form small groups and
organize skill-based workshops for your workers. Put job rotations into place to
determine whether an employee can perform new tasks other than the ones
assigned. Help them develop new skills by making room for practical learning and
assignments related to new duties and roles.

Since individual training is time-consuming and heavy on the budget, form small
groups and organize skill-based workshops for your workers. Put job rotations into
place to determine whether an employee can perform new tasks other than the
ones assigned. Help them develop new skills by making room for practical learning
and assignments related to new duties and roles.

3. Coaching and Mentoring

Put efforts into polishing employee skills with the help of personal intervention and
greater attention. Give directions to workers, assign group projects, help them
complete tasks better and regularly monitor their work to track improvement levels
and identify drawbacks. Mentor employees for high-level responsibilities and let
them innovate to perform skill-based jobs. Start career-based discussions with your
workers to grasp their areas of interest and channel efforts in the right direction.

4. Team Interaction
Encourage interpersonal communication to create an accommodative and diverse
work environment. Evaluate employee interests, organize group activities, ask
questions, start discussions, invite inputs and encourage participation to
strengthen their expertise in multiple job roles. It’s vital to understand if your
workers are keen on taking up new tasks or presenting an innovative idea to
improve the business. It boosts employee confidence and creates a progressive
work environment.

5. Feedback
Allow employees to make suggestions, share input and review practices to examine
existing methods and boost efficiency. You can send feedback forms weekly or
monthly, hold ask-me-anything meetings or have personal discussions with each
employee to understand their sentiments better. Evaluate areas of improvement,
eliminate loopholes, outline shortcomings, add new developmental approaches
and create a constructive route for workplace collaboration.

6. Performance Review
It’s always helpful for employees to understand the direction of their efforts and
know if their work is producing desired results. Organize monthly or quarterly
meetings with each worker to discuss their performance, send review reports,
communicate constructive feedback and encourage and recognize employees.

How to Increase Company-Wide Education

Once you’ve identified the methods of skill development, here’s how to ensure the
smooth integration of a development plan:

1. Strategize
Many companies haven’t established an efficient strategy for staff education. It’s
usually more of a bureaucratic procedure than an actual plan. Sometimes, it’s
completely overlooked. Changing job roles and requirements need employees to
build skills that match fluctuating organizational benchmarks.

A skills gap analysis helps employers identify the difference between what they need
and what their current workforce can offer. Identify and describe essential
competencies, assess staff performance, collect feedback and analyze the results for
gaps and areas of improvement. Include employee training methods like online
courses, mentorship programs, conferences and more to develop new talents.

2. Invest in Tech & Money

Companies use appropriate LMSs to track education, competencies and previous or
ongoing training. Then, they can match them with the company’s goals, allowing
employers to establish clear benchmarks for different roles. For the early stages of
hiring, a talent management system can observe candidates and identify
opportunities.

3. Address Skill Gaps

Once an organization implements its LMS, managers can not only identify gaps but
fill them through new hires or reskilling. It serves as a platform for training and
development, easily integrating multiple e-learning solutions, webinars, classes,
conferences and much more.

4. Scale It
With one-on-one coaching, it’s challenging to coordinate training through multiple
locations. Information can get lost or corrupted in a game of telephone. A cloud-
based LMS ensures that training is consistent and available to everyone. By choosing
an LMS with high automation that integrates with your pre-existing HR or marketing
tech and can accommodate a huge number of simultaneous users, you’ll ensure
sustainability as your company grows.

5. Check In Regularly
Once the process is underway, it’s essential to know your team is engaged. Check-
ins can be done through official meetings or via online messages. Even lectures
about other topics act as a forum for checking on learning. By discussing new skills
and sharing them with the group regularly, it keeps an open dialogue about training
for everyone.

6. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Allocate the resources to make sure everyone feels they have a place in the
workplace’s future. By investing in workers, you keep current workers and build a
reputation to attract top talent from competitors. According to Training magazine’s
2020 Training Industry report, organizations spent $82.5 Billion on training
expenditures. Prepare to add room in the budget if you’re serious about making
training a priority.